Heavy item lifts for Wickenburg ranches and properties

Wickenburg properties come with their own kind of heavy. Instead of a statue for the backyard, it is a water tank for the hill, a steel chute for the arena or a load of beams for a barn. A loader or tractor can move some of it, but setting it exactly where it goes, at the right height and over a fence, is a crane job.

Common Wickenburg property lifts include:

• Water storage tanks onto pads and stands
• Arena and livestock equipment like chutes, panels, troughs and feeders
• Storage containers set on a level spot
• Steel, beams and trusses for barns, shade structures and shops
• Building materials lifted up a grade to a hillside build
• Machinery and generators for shops and outbuildings

Every lift is different. Call with the weight of the item, how far it needs to go and where the truck can park, and Don will confirm the lift.

Wickenburg is widely known as the Team Roping Capital of the World, and plenty of properties have their own arena, pens or barn. That equipment is heavy, awkward steel that is hard to place with a tractor's forks.

• Chutes and boxes. Roping chutes and return alleys need to be set square and level. The crane can hold the piece while your crew lines up and anchors it.
• Panels and gates. Bundles of panels can be landed close to where they will be hung instead of dragged across the arena.
• Troughs and feeders. Large steel troughs and bale feeders can be set over a fence into a pen.
• Shade structures. Columns, beams and roof steel for a barn aisle or a shade over the pens.

Put horses and cattle in another pen or pasture well away from the truck and the swing path before we start.

Water storage tanks

On hilly ground, storage tanks often sit on a pad or stand above the house or barn. Before lift day, have the pad finished and level, and the tank empty. Get the empty weight from the tank supplier and tell us whether the tank has lifting lugs or needs to be slung. If the tank is part of a well system, see our Wickenburg well equipment lifts page.

Storage containers

Steel storage containers are a common way to add lockable storage on acreage. Setting one with a crane lets it go exactly where you want it, on blocks or a level pad, instead of wherever the delivery truck can slide it off. Tell us the container size and whether it will be empty. Every lift is weighed on its own, and a loaded container is a very different lift.

Many Wickenburg homes and building sites sit above or below the road on rocky slopes. Delivery trucks drop materials where they can reach, and that is often not where your crew needs them.

A crane can lift pallets of block, stacks of steel, beams and bundles from the road or a lower pad up to the build site, a deck or an upper level. That saves your crew from carrying everything up the hill and keeps materials off a steep drive. We also lift trusses and roofing materials for new builds and re-roofs.

To plan it, send the type and weight of each load, the distance from the truck spot to the landing spot and a photo looking from one to the other. Have the landing spot cleared and flat enough to take the load.

Wickenburg is about 37 miles from our Surprise base, so we plan each trip carefully. If you have several lifts on the property, or neighbors who need something set, put them in one request. Don and his son Bryce can work through them on one visit, as long as each one is confirmed.

• Ground. The truck needs firm, level footing for its outriggers. Tell us about sand, fill, wash crossings or buried tanks and lines near the setup spot (29 CFR 1926.1402).
• Overhead lines. Keep crane equipment at least 20 feet from lines up to 350 kV unless specific procedures are followed (29 CFR 1926.1408).
• Access. Gate widths, cattle guards, tight turns and a place to turn around.
• Permits. If the truck needs to sit in a street in town, check with the Town of Wickenburg. Some properties near Wickenburg sit outside town limits, where the county is the one to ask.

If a lift is beyond our truck, we have trusted relationships with other crane companies. For general tips, see heavy item lifts.